Trevor Bell was one of the foremost pioneering Modern British post-war artists. After graduating from the Leeds College of Art (1947-52), fellow British artist and St Ives Group member Terry Frost (1915-2003) encouraged him to move to West Cornwall in 1955. The St Ives Group and scene, and later the Situation Group exhibiting in London in 1960, had a profound and lasting impact on the young Bell. Having cemented his reputation as a leading member of the younger generation of St Ives artists bringing British Abstraction to the world stage, throughout his career in Britain and the U.S., Bell continued to constantly challenge traditional ideas about the role of painting. When Bell began constructing his first shaped canvases in around 1960, he turned the accepted notions of what constitutes ‘a painting’ on its head. Thereafter, the painting for Bell was an object in its own right, creating a new dialogue between its physical form and the artist’s gesture and intent.

Important exhibitions were held at the Corcoran Gallery and the Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum in Miami, the Cummer Gallery in Jacksonville and the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was included in the London Tate Gallery’s St.Ives 1939 – 1964 exhibition, and in 1996-7 and 1998-9, Bell exhibited large-scale paintings at the Tate Gallery, St Ives. He has been a regular exhibitor in private galleries in Miami, Atlanta and Chicago and has had works purchased and commissioned by numerous international museum, public and private collections. Bell was twice a recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Council of Florida. In 1998 he was honoured with an Emeritus Professorship by Florida State University.